Announcement of Twenty Million US Dollars World Bank Loan to Ireland for an Electric Power Project on March 4, 1971

INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR • RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVE P~!lEf'JT 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 71/11 Subject: $20.0 million World Bank March 4, l.971 loan to Ireland for an electric power project A $28 .. n r.dllfon P.lectric power project, part of a program to increase generating capacity to help Ireland meet anticipated load growth, will be assisted by a $20.0 million loan approved by the World Bank. The loan is being made to Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB). The project consists of the installation of a 250-megawatt, oil- • fired generating unit and associated equipment at the Tarbert generating station at the mouth of the Shannon River. It will more than triple the capacity of the existing plant which now comprises two 60-megawatt mits. It is the first of -a series of· large-.size units in E~J.!' s exte11sive expansion program which will add about 2000 megawatts to ESB's ex:1.sting installed capacity between now and 19'80. ESB is an autonomous corporation responsible for the generation and distribution of all public electricity supply in Ireland. lt is one of the largest enterprises in the country, employing some 10,000 people. - \ Th~ growth in ESB elec·... ricity sales has averaged about 10% per annum over the last few years. This rate is expected to be maintained particularly in view of the emphasis being placed by th, Govemment on industrial expansion • • /more Bank P.R. No. 71/11 -- Ireland, -- electric power - 2 - • The Bank loan, guaranteed by Ireland, is for a term of 17 years, including five years of grace, at an interest rate of M. ESB (Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, 2, Ireland) will implement the project which is scheduled to be completed and in full commercial operation by October 1975. The loan is the World Bank's second to Ireland. The first, in 1969, w~ also in the power sector -- $14.S million for a four-unit 280-megawatt pumped storage project at Turlough Hill, about 25 miles south of Dublin. - 0 - • •